Page 34 of Blood & Heartache

His grip on my cock tightened slightly, giving me more to thrust against, which I did like a horny teenager desperate to achieve release. The finger in my ass was removed, making me whimper only to feel the cool sensation of lube. The bastard kept that shit hidden everywhere in this room. Seeing as it was rather essential for me to enjoy anything past a finger, I appreciated it. Two fingers made their way into me as I cried out, arching into the pressure. I could tell he was going to finger fuck me in earnest now, which meant I was going to come in a matter of minutes if not seconds with how on edge I was and partly because I didn’t jack off after Astin’s punishment this morning. It seemed like breaking the rules to do it myself after she’d told me she was the only one coming that morning.

The sensation that put me over the edge was Jace’s fucking mouth as he latched onto one of my nipples and tugged on it with his teeth. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, Jace. I’m going to come,” I warned, knowing I’d be getting it all over his shirt if we stayed like this.

“Then come,” Jace commanded, and I did.

Arching back, I groaned long and loud as my cum spilled out as the orgasm had me seeing stars. Jace slowly stroked my cock, ensuring the orgasm would last, milking all the cum out of me. My breath came in heaving pants as my muscles seemed to refuse to hold my body up. Jace caught me against him, and I could feel my warm cum on my skin.

“Shit, Brax, are you okay?” Jace asked.

“Fucking delightful,” I muttered. “Astin punished me this morning for breaking a rule, gave me hella blue balls.” Jace burst out laughing as he stood, holding me tightly in his arms as he walked over to the bed. Then he proceeded to gently toss me on the mattress and strip off his clothes. “Do I want to ask what you did to deserve her punishment?”

Rolling on my stomach, I grabbed one of the pillows to hug and rest my head on. “She told me I had to wait and talk to you first before she and I went any further. Her fear was there being trouble between us over it, or you might be upset with her. When I woke up with her in my arms this morning, I didn’t keep my hands or lips to myself, and I almost crossed the line she’d asked me to respect. That won’t be something I have to worry about now that we’ve talked.” Shifting, I looked over where he’d been standing near the bed. “She did want the three of us to have a conversa—”

“What was that?” Jace asked as he stood there, tattoos on display, stroking his cock absently.

Licking my lips, I attempted to focus. “A conversation… the three of us… together.”

“Oh, I plan on the three of us having a lot of conversations together,” Jace shared, grinning at me. “Right now, though, I think the two of us have talked enough for one night. Come over here and put that mouth to good use, pup.”

A shiver of delight washed over me as I crawled forward. “It would be my pleasure, Sir.”

As I took him in my mouth, I finally understood what that emotion was in his gaze that I caught on occasion—it was love. Something I wasn’t sure I deserved from Jace after how I’d handled things between us, but clearly, he thought differently. Thank fuck for that.

Chapter 15

To have the night to myself without a single interruption let me catch up on work that needed to be addressed. Things at Caprioni Enterprises had been put on hold for the past five days, which were required but left things in limbo. Thankfully, I was aware of most of the projects that needed attention, and those I wasn’t familiar with Gunner and Liu advised me on via email and voice memos. Once I was done with that, I delved into the information Atticus provided on the members of the Caprioni Family. There were thousands of people when you included not just those baptized into the Family but their wives and children as well, if they had any. By the looks of things, it was about fifty-fifty if they were married or not.

Atticus had sent me over roughly three hundred people he’d flagged based on my criteria. I looked over the names to see if any stuck out to me, but none were familiar, which I suppose was a good thing. Deciding that the strongest influence you could have over someone was money, I started with those in severe debt. Unsurprisingly, this was the largest category most of these people fell into. I’d made it through them all when Boykov cut me off, taking my laptop and sending me off to bed.

“It’s pointless to argue with me, Lady Astin. No matter what you say, I’m not going to do as you ask. You’re the one who made me head of your personal security, so you can either accept that fact or fire me and pick someone else,” Boykov challenged when I squared off with him trying to get my laptop back.

“You know I’m not going to do that because there’s no one else I’d trust,” I snapped. “How is it that I’m your boss, but you’re the one calling the shots right now?”

“Do I really need to answer that?” Boykov asked.

“Ralph, you’re so damn lucky I like you so much. Go on, take the laptop and get out of here. I’m sure you need to sleep as much as I do,” I ordered, giving up and sinking back into my office chair. “Tomorrow is either going to go surprisingly well, or shit is gonna hit the fan.”

“I’ll make sure to wear my wading boots.” The man chuckled as he headed out. “Sleep well, Lady Astin.”

“Fucking wading boots, the man thinks he has jokes, huh?” I muttered under my breath as I leaned back in my chair, running my hands through my hair. “Uh, the last thing I want to do is sleep right now.”

I felt like a petulant child who refused to do as she was told and broke down into a tantrum about it. Normally, on a night like tonight, I’d case a home I had planned to steal from or go for a run. Neither of those things was an option, and it also explained why I was getting so restless. My mind drifted back to the memory I’d had, and what my grandfather had said about people coming after me once I’d made myself known. Could some of this be what he was talking about?

My fingers itched to reach for my laptop that wasn’t there so I could look at some of the files Daddy left me on the zip drive, which was impossible since Ralph fucking stole my laptop for the night. Turning my chair around, I looked out the large windows onto the pool and garden area of the property. The water in the pool shimmered silver in the moonlight rippling from the wind that wasn’t letting the rain leave. Spring was always a wet season, but up here, it seems worse than I remember, but then again, I’d been about five.

Absently, I rubbed at the scar on my palm, a habit I’d developed over the years. It used to bring me so much comfort knowing that Ryker was across the yard in the little house he and his father lived in. When we’d gotten older and started to explore the attraction between us, it was his house we’d sneak off to. His father was a hard-working man, taking care of the home and property in any way that was needed. It also meant he was hardly ever home but at night, leaving us to do as we pleased. The day we finally gave in and tossed all the worries I had about things changing between us went out the window and had sex wasn’t at all how they made it seem. Truthfully, I was glad it had been him because that would have been far too embarrassing to experience with someone else.

After that first time, it happened on a few more occasions, but I was worried that Daddy wouldn’t let us be together. Even though I knew Daddy married mother for love, he didn’t do that with Flora. Plus, many of the girls I went to school with talked about how their parents wouldn’t allow them to even date someone who was of a lower class than they were. Even though I hated to admit it, I fell into the same social status where that might be a concern for Daddy. It’s not like I had to worry about it since Daddy already had a plan in place to keep us from falling in love far too young, or that’s the lie I liked to tell myself. I’d reached a point when my anger and hurt over him ignoring me made it glaringly obvious I loved the bastard.

Was I at a point where I could be truthful with myself again? No, not yet.

Doing that would only open me up to a tangle of emotions I didn’t want to work on right now. Plus, it would mean talking to him about it and risking the chance he might do the same thing to me again. There were plenty of other things to focus on, so my childhood romance could take a back seat even if the asshole was someone I had to see and work with every day. I’m just that lucky bitch, I guess.

Unwilling to let myself fall deeper into this melancholy frame of mind, I grabbed my cane and headed for the bedroom. I suppose I could take one of the sleeping pills the emergency room doctor gave me and force myself to pass out. Yet my mind was more than happy to list all the reasons why that was a terrible idea. Such as, what if the house caught on fire and you don’t wake up? Or if someone comes to attack you in your sleep, you’d be unable to fight back. All of these worries were what made me decide against that plan. So I changed into a silk nightgown, flopped into bed, and turned on the television to find out what terrible show was on at twelve thirty.

Flipping through the channels, all there was to watch were late-night talk shows, news, trash celebrity tabloid updates, and relationship hotlines. I almost turned off the television when I paused on a breaking-news update.

“This just in. The mayor was attacked in his home an hour ago here on the Upper East Side. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital with gunshot wounds. There is no update on his status, but as soon as we know anything, we’ll be sure to update you. Thankfully, Mayor Wilson’s wife was out of town visiting family, so she wasn’t here when the attack occurred. A friend of the mayor was in the house at the time but was left unharmed. It seems Mayor Wilson was the intended target of the attack.